I switched to Consumer Cellular a few months ago and it is fine so far. I kept my old cell phone and number and have no problems, though with taxes, my 200 minutes and no texting costs me $16 a month. Nevertheless, that is much better than the $49 I was paying with AT&T. The minutes do not roll over, and if you need more, you can switch to a plan with more minutes right away. I just use the phone for long distance and rarely use it otherwise. My kids and sister are long distance, but usually the kids call me on the land line.

Cricket has unlimited minutes & unlimited texting for $25 a month.

If your phone doesn't work with their service, you can buy a phone at their store or buy a $29 phone at Walmart.

Mine is the same as sylvia. My son and I both have unlimted stuff and it's $55 total. That's right, both of our phones. iWireless through Kroger.

I wonder so much nowadays about people that refuse to switch to the non-contract stuff like Cricket and iWireless. They seem so wary of it, when really, they use the same cell towers, you can have any phone you want (with mine, at least, I know you can), and you're not locked into a contract. So why not switch? Is it the unknown factor? Is it "you get what you pay for" worry? I can't figure it out. I've had both, and the only difference is the price. Absolutely.

I would love to change and get the lowest price with the same coverage area as I have with att but none of them offer the mobile WiFi device like the one that I have from att. It's essential to us for the RV and while traveling anywhere to be able to have wireless to use our tablets anywhere we are. To have that I have to have a specific plan with att and none of it is cheap. If I could get the same quality and service with the same device I would consider it for sure.
I carry my WiFi device in my tablet Case so that I have WiFi any place I pull out my tablet. I can use it for the cell phone too of course but I leave the cell phone on to utilize both WiFi and cellular network so it's pretty much always connected. I do have the ability to use the phone as a hot-spot for a few devices but the speeds and connection are extremely better with the WiFi device. We did get the device free and we get new phones free regularly if we want to change.

If anyone knows of a company that offers a mobile WiFi device which uses the att network I would love to know about it. The areas we travel are well covered by att.

If we only used cell phones I would go with a much cheaper deal, I don't use mine much and I text maybe a few times a week. He does use his phone more than me, work, but he doesn't text if he can help it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Att unite

This is a great article about the unite device compared to other options and it's exactly why I love having it. I have never had a problem getting close to the cap on usage so the base amount is fine for us.
I believe that there's a new model out now but I have the exact one in the article. Speeds are awesome.

Here is a link that might be useful: Using the att unite

My son uses his phone as a wifi hotspot for his tablet when he's on the city bus here. Do you mean like that raven? It's Sprint though. Seems like Go phone is ATT for contractless. You could buy it for one month as a trial? Totally a suggestion.

If I understand what you're describing, Verizon has had standalone hotspot devices for years. You get one and it shares your dataplan.

Or, as rob describes, I think all smartphones have the same capability. I have a normal Verizon family plan, all of our phones can provide a wifi signal with no extra charge. The data use is just part of your overall data use. I'm not sure why an added device would be needed, unless one chooses to do so to conserve the phone's battery life .

Right as I mentioned my phone has the ability to create a hotspot for tethering but the unite provides more connections to it and also as shown in the article (pictures of speed tests) has much much better speeds and a very long lasting battery (very similar to using a home router). Using the cell phone for tethering multiple devices is often slow going and can not last as long as the battery on the unite. If I only used it rarely that would be ok but when we are traveling I am on the unite exclusively for the entire trip long term and the difference between it and the phone hotspot is significant and worth the price for it.
Verizon has a similar offering too. I was curious if there were any other stand alone options other than ones that had to be part of an existing phone plan as I have now. That way I could go with a cheap cell phone plan and a separate stand alone wifi device plan.

I have seen that you can get the unite as a prepaid version and use the cards you buy for minutes. That is something I am looking at.

I would ideally like to separate the two so I can really drop down in the cell phone rates since we really don't use them much. I like having my smart phone but I can live with less there but not with out my portable wifi device.
I did try just using the cell phone hotspot tethering but it just does not compare to using the unite. It is provided in my plan and on my phone so I can use that option anytime. Once you have experienced the difference between those 2 options it is hard to not have the unite and just go with phone hot spot.

If you don't use your phone often, consider TracFone. You can get the phone for $10 and service for a year (with 800 minutes) only costs $100. (You can buy service for whatever time period you want--I buy it by the year.) Leftover minutes carry over into the new service period.

Or... What about using the tablet as a "phone"? Maybe?

Raven,

AT&T uses GSM technology. T-Mobile also uses GSM, and the two companies share most cell towers.

I have consumer ...nary a problem...

I should have read all the reviews before I went any further. They have more bad reviews than good.
Wanda_va - I may look into the trac phone. That sounds perfect for my husband and me. He is retired and uses his phone when he's in the car or shopping. I'm still working so my phone is on only when I'm in the car. Or when we lose electric at home and need to call to report it.